Hearthstone Stoves

I am going to do something a little different. Most postings I try to make folks aware of offers, products etc that may require closer examination before purchasing. I recently bought a Hearthstone Heritage wood burning stove to have some alternative heat in my house and its not been a good customer experience so far. I hope in these entries to not only make other consumers aware of our experience with this Hearthstone product but to also give some tips on how to avoid the problems I have had if you are considering buying a wood-burning stove.

First a general overview.
I looked at several stoves-offered by local distributors and sold online. Because of the potential hassles of ordering online and then contracting with someone not necessarily familiar with the stove manufacturer, I decided to order from someone locally. This is turning out to be a HUGE benefit. So far our contractor JR Bolton is doing wonderfully and is working with me to solve the problems with the stove. Had I contracted with someone to just install then this would be a much worse situation. So first lesson: Put as much time researching a distributor as you do researching what stove to buy. I bought the Hearthstone Heritage because I liked the way it held the heat and this model had a side door for easier wood loading. The color and finish are beautiful.

The Problem.
I read the manual and did several small burn in fires to break in the stove as discussed in the manual. However the stove would not maintain the fire when the doors were shut and the air controller handle was wide open, I had to go to the stove every so often to open a door because the fire would keep dying out. I called Hearthstone and confirmed how the stove SHOULD operate, I looked online and read several articles and forum postings on the operation of the stove. No problem, pretty straight forward stuff. also for this stove there are several youtube videos so I could see how others stoves performed. Mine was not even close. The test of a good company is how they handle a problem. Reaching Hearthstone was hit or miss. Many calls were not returned. When we first raised the issue with the distributor we got some dismissive answer that the firewood was not dry enough. Well according to the folks that delivered it, it was very seasoned and very dry. The one time we spoke to someone at Hearthstone they said it should be dry but unless the wood is green that should not be a problem. When we told the owners of the distributor about the problem continuing and the answers we got, they quickly sent their senior troubleshooter out to the house. This guy, Scott, knows his stuff what a difference it makes to work with someone who cares about doing whats right. So far JR Bolton has acted like they are going to solve this problem. Lucky for me because the customer service out of Hearthstone has been terrible!! So we are entering the second week of trying to get this stove to work properly.

Lessons learned? 1. Do a lot of research!!! So much on the internet is marketing hype so its important that you learn the terminology. Understand how the product works and how it should work once you have it in your home. Know what you should be able to expect from the stove in terms of how it operates. 2. Try to visit more than one distributor and see as many types as you can. 3. Ask if they have referrals. This is important because I have learned that the same stove in different a setting and install can perform differently. 4. Ask to speak to their repair guy and have questions ready about what problems they have had to deal with. 5. Do enough research so you are very clear in your own mind what features you want and how you plan to use the stove.

So in summary. I am not happy with Hearthstone. Because both their product and customer service is so bad, in my opinion, I will never buy their product again or refer people to them. We have a fair chance of getting this fixed because the distributor is trying to help us. More on that as this situation unfolds.

Mind Numbing Motley Fool

I have kept up with some of the reports that come out of the Motley Fool. I like a lot of their work. But lately I am having doubts. I have to start being more careful. For the third time I clicked on one of their stock presentations-this one by Bryan White. Wow...talk about a lot of nothing. The presentation went on and on and on. After probably 20 minutes maybe more...still no mention of the stock. Ugh! with a title research I found some other site's that cut through the hype and just tell you the stock. Lesson learned no more MF presentations for me. The presentations had that MLM pitch feel. Not for me.

Nugenix and other such stuff

I was checking the weather on AccuWeather.com when I saw an ad for Nugenix. This market place is fraught with bogus products and rip off sales campaigns so I thought I'd check it out. Sure enough...red flags all over the place. The purpose of this post is to show another example of how it pays to do your research. One of my favorite places to start looking into a product is Amazon.com. This product is a great example of that. Looking at the product's sales page it looks like a good product. As of this writing the product has 36 1-star reviews and only 7 5-star reviews--serious red flag. a very different picture than the one the ad copy folks are trying to create. Perfect example of buyer BETTER beware. The other thing you learn is that there are issues with unauthorized credit card charges---that is a huge red flag as well. There are other great places to get objective feedback on a product before you buy it. Amazon is just one. Do yourself a big favor never buy anything online or on TV until you have done some due diligence. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER. In my other posts I share some other things you can do to keep yourself from getting ripped off online.

Review and Comments on Profit Hacks

Three days ago I got an email inviting me to be one of a select group of students for this "never seen before" (or something like that) program. Now 3 days later and after a lot of research I say, baloney!

For sure very successful folks but so many " gurus"...just band together to spin out a must have, super-duper, super-secret training method/formula or system.
Some catch phrases I heard in the presentation that, in my opinion, made me scream, baloney!
1. I am going to get in trouble revealing this stuff
2. It's been a "secret" up to now.
3. This is private, this is exclusive. [makes you want to 'belong' doesn't it?]
4. A series of stupid statements along the lines of: 'this is not for you if you do not want to be rich/successful/wealthy.. blah blah
5. I/ we invented/created this...like Al Gore created the internet. Baloney! Might as well say they invented the recipe for a good cake.
6.No one else...NO ONE..has shown this before...ever!
7.My super red flag...the presentation is a whole lot of talk (goes on for over an hour) and nothing to show for it. What is shown...at best...rehashed stuff in a new cover.

Well you get the idea.So I researched several keywords from the videos and everything is available somewhere else free or for significantly less. By the way nearly $1500 is ridiculous I think.

If you research these things long enough you see a "life-cycle" of these coaching products. It goes something like this:
Phase I-- a new product launch (like Profit Hacks) that will never come again after a certain date. The presentation I saw said November 15, 2012...Profit Hacks closes and those who snoozed loose...or maybe did not waste their money.
Phase II--It gets rebranded and packaged a lower price point
Phase III--it shows up as a bonus in some other shysters Phase I
Phase IV--a give away to grow their marketing list.

So my advise is to hold onto to your money...you can find this now or soon will get it for a lot less in phase 2 thru 4. You are better off building relationships with other IM folks near you and learning together. Yes you can hear some interesting stuff from guys like this....but I think its high on hype and low on value. That's my opinion but when you have seen as much of this as I have its the truth. IMHO. So Profit Hacks is a pass for me and as a bible verse says: "old wine in a new wine skin."
I hope this helps you.

e-mail marketing, work-from-home, MLM

I have an email account I use to sign up for money making programs. I have not attended to it in several weeks because my day job is keeping me busy. When I looked at my inbox I have over 3,800 emails.

I began to wonder through my fine collection of "must-have", 'incredible wealth", "Christmas special" offers. It was funny. All these squawking internet marketers trying to sell the next hot item on the internet. It was particular entertaining to see multiple marketers selling the same product with their own little twist added.

Some has a good and fair offer others were just same 'ol online scam games. Here is my Christmas list of programs on a good list and what puts them on the bad list

Good list:
1. No long video presentation or sales pitch page that repeats it's sales points 3-7 times
2. Clear explanation of who was offering what. Good detail, easy to research.
3. Clear terms and conditions
4. Sample offering to understand what is in the program
5. Honest-- the pitch is born out by independent reviews and users

Bad List
1. Long presentation, hype upon hype, promise upon promise..."others lie but I don't" babble and so on ans so on.
2. Very little substantive detail available on which to make a sound decision. Any offer that basically says, "send me your money and trust me I will return it if you don't like it"
3. Half truth money story. They show $8000 in one day which may be true but that shows the revenue from all affiliates that day or week. They also show revenue based on their mature, well established business with many affiliates and many list subscribers. Not disclosing that is dishonest!
4. Dishonest--or looks dishonest. Listened to a pitch for Affiliate Silver Bullet where "Dustin" tells you he spent big bucks and late nights developing the program...then I find articles indicating 2 other people did the work. Who knows? Someone is lying.
5. Say stupid things in a presentation like: "I could get in real trouble for sharing these secrets" [oh really? by who..your Mom?]; or,"I am about to show you
something no one else has the courage to show you". [really?..truth is there are probably dozens of other IMers saying the same thing...well at least they can read a script]
Final note thank you for the "thank-you" emails we receive.